Sheyenne wrestlers proud to be part of girls wrestling growth in North Dakota

FARGO — The USA wrestling event is seeing file numbers, particularly within the girls’s division which is up over 500 entries. This 12 months’s North Dakota women workforce is filled with newcomers in addition to seasoned vets.

An upcoming senior at Sheyenne, Mireya Sanchez, discovered her old flame on the soccer subject. Or at the very least she thought she did.

“I’ve slightly little bit of anger points and I wished to be extra bodily,” stated Sanchez. “I’d get yellow playing cards in soccer video games, so I wished to offer wrestling a shot.”

Fortunately for Sanchez, women wrestling was lastly turning into sanctioned at Sheyenne Excessive College. Her connection to the game was immediate.

“Seeing how your physique is and how one can take down someone, and that feeling when the ref slaps the mat, it’s like one of the best feeling on the planet whenever you win a match,” Sanchez stated.

Whereas it was Sanchez’s first 12 months at sport, she was capable of get some assist from a wrestler who’s been via all of it.

“They’d fliers hanging on the wall within the faculty, after which I noticed that and got here involved with Morgan,” Sanchez stated. “We turned finest associates.”

“At the start of wrestling, I wrestled with the blokes,” Morgan Strandberg stated. “It was laborious however I discovered quite a bit from it.”

Sanchez might study from somebody like Strandberg due to Morgan’s path. Strandberg turned Sheyenne’s first state winner in wrestling, incomes a full trip to wrestle on the collegiate degree at Oklahoma Metropolis College.

“Wrestling the blokes, it is actually mentally robust. You must be actually robust within the head to, like, to do this, Strandberg stated.

Now the 2 Sheyenne grapplers have gone from simply attempting to get an opportunity, to wrestling within the nation’s greatest event within the Fargodome.

“Over time, each workforce is rising and getting larger and greater,” Sanchez stated.

“Women from all around the nation come to this factor,” Strandberg added. ” There’s a number of women which were practising or wrestling freestyle their total lives, as a result of they’ve been sanctioned of their state for some time.”

The competitors was robust on the USA Junior Nationals with Sanchez and Strandberg falling in each of their matches on Tuesday, July 19, however the duo realized they’re persevering with to make historical past on the mats.

“I’m simply actually grateful I get to symbolize North Dakota,” stated Strandberg.

“It means quite a bit to be one of many women on workforce North Dakota out of all the ladies that do wrestle right here,” stated Sanchez. “Even to get extra women to come back out. I need to be a giant influencer for ladies.”